Hybrid Work: Leaders Must Show the Value of the Office
Andreia Abud analyzes flexible leadership and the importance of giving purpose to office days.
Andreia Abud analyzes the leadership challenges of managing hybrid work models. She highlights the importance of giving real purpose to office days to strengthen learning and team collaboration.
Andreia Abud, CMDO at Felina and board member at Conar, spoke with Bruno Gimenes on Marketing - The Podcast about leadership challenges in hybrid work models and maintaining human connections within teams. The excerpt is part of a broader conversation covering communication, media, and technology's impact on the market.
For Abud, the transition to flexible models brought gains that cannot be dismissed, requiring leaders to practice empathy regarding employees' daily routines and commuting costs. In the video above, she details agency team dynamics and the care needed to avoid imposing in-person requirements without practical justification. "If someone takes five hours to get there and five hours to return, spending money they don't have to spend right now," Abud notes when highlighting the commuting realities of many professionals.
The loss of connection in full isolation
While excessive commutes take a heavy toll, complete isolation also carries costs for professional development. Abud emphasizes that a total absence of in-person interaction hurts spontaneous exchanges and continuous learning that occur naturally in an office routine. Assessing fully remote models, she notes that professionals "also lose connection; they lose learning opportunities."
The central leadership challenge therefore lies in balancing presence without resorting to bureaucratic mandates or arbitrary attendance quotas. "It is not about decreeing that you must be here three days a week; a leader's role is to help employees understand and see the actual value of being here," Abud explains.
Purposeful presence and trust in leadership
Being physically present at work only makes sense when genuine interaction occurs across people and departments. According to Abud, bringing a team to the office only to replicate digital isolation is counterproductive. "Too often, having someone come in just to sit on calls all day and not connect with anyone accomplishes nothing," she points out.
The true value of gathering in person emerges through direct collaboration across disciplines—such as when account managers sit alongside creatives to solve a problem together or spark business insights. For this dynamic to succeed, Abud advocates cultivating mutual trust so teams understand the reason behind their commute: "If my manager tells me it is important to be here, it is because it genuinely matters—she wouldn't waste my time for no reason."